Meat-cutting machine.



No. 887,526. PATENTED MAY 12, 1908. E. w. RIISK.

MEAT CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 17, 1907.

3 SHEBTS-SHEET l.

"" lIllIIIllllllllilllllflllllliii 'i lllllllllllll\llllllllll nvvmrol? A TTOHNE rs No. 887,526. PATENTED MAY 12, 1908. E W RUSK MEAT CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 17, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES EDWARfiR/V. RUSK By A TTOHNEYS UNITED STATES EDWARD W. RUSK, OF CALLAWAY, NEBRASKA.

MEAT-CUTTING- mourns.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 1908.

Application filed August 17, 1901. Serial No. 389,033.

. To all whom it may concern:

.Be it known that I, EDWARD RUSK, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Callaway, in the county of Custer and State of Nebraska, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Meat-Outtin Machines, of

whlch the-following is a speci cation.

In the shcmg of meats for retail, such as the cutfn'n 'off of steaks from the larger stock sawin machines have hereto ore been depieces the butcher ordinarily uses his knife to shoe the flesh until the bone is'reached and then discarding the knife takes up the saw and saws through the bone and then, resuming the kmfe again, proceeds to sever the still connected fleshy parts. Rota cutting and vised for this work, but for various reasons,

' out :use of the affecting their racticability, the independnife and saw is still relied upon generally by butchers.

My invention is designed to provide a simple and practical machine for 'mo re rapidly, conveniently and effectively doingthis work without the constant'changeof implements and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts which I'will now pro ceed to describe, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 s a front elevation of the same. "Fig. 3 is a plan view partly in section. Fig. 4 a detail view of one of the meat holding prongs and Fig. 5 is a view in perspective showing the a plication of the meat holding prongs to thesiats of the carrier belt.

In the drawings, Figs. 1 and 2, A A re resent two hanger bars pivotally sup orte at their upper ends upon a horizonta shaft I carried 1n bearings overhead. At theirlower ends these hanger bars are ivotally connected by bolts 5 to a rectan ar frame composed of two arallel side bars B B and two cross bars E i The pivotal connection I) forms a rocking center u on which the rectangular frame may be ti ted as indicated in dotted lines at the bottom of Fig. 1. In bearings in this tilting frame on opposite sides of the rocking center are arranged the arallel shafts C D. The shaft C has near t e mid- .dle a rigidly attached pulley ,0 and on one end shaft 1) in like manner has near the middle, and in the same lane with pulley c, a pulley ranged in the same lane with the circular knife C. Between tiie two pulleys c and d and in the same plane therewith is arranged a belt tightening pulley F held in a yoke h suspended from a spiral'spring f whose-tension is regulated by a threaded stem and screw nut gv connected to a cross bar 9 extending across horizontally from one hanger bar A to the other.

Mounted on the shaft I is a large driving pulley H, Fig. 1, which is preferably attache to and driven by the shaft. Anendless belt G'passes around this driving pulls and extends underneath the subjacent pul eye 0 and part rotary motion to the two shafts C D and the two rotary cutters O and D.

Two loop shaped handles J are attached to the tilting frame bars B B and furnish means for the manipulation of the cutter frame which is given two independent movements. One of these movements is a swinging move& ment of the hanger bars and subj acent frame like a pendulum about its elevated center on the shaft I, as indicated by the dotted lines at the u er part of Fig. 1 and the curved and dou h e headed arrow at the bottom. This movement is for the purpose of advancing and withdrawing the cutters in a nearly horizontal direction for making the slice. The other movement of the cutter frame is a tilting movement about the rocking center I), as indicated in dotted lines' at the bottom ofFig. 1,. The pur ose of this adjustment is to brmg either the mife or the saw into albe severed. Thus in cuttin Qfl a steak from a section of beef carrying a one the handles J are elevated which throws the knife C down and in this position of the tilting framethe til the bone is struck. The'handles J are then depressed until the knife rides over the bone and continues-the cutting of the flesh and then when the saw reaches the bone it com letes the'severance of the bone, thus rapi ly cutting ofl the flesh and bone and d and on one en a rotary clrcular saw D ar ternate enga ement with the piece of meat to. be cut accor ing to Whether flesh or bone is to d and over the belt tightening pulley F to imcutter frame is advanced across the beef unquickly and cleanly slicing off the steak. If

I will now describe the means for holdingthe piece of meat up to the action of the cutters and for feeding it intermittently thereto, reference being now had to Fi s. 2

An endless carrier belt for t e meat is provided whose movement is at rightangles to the plane of the meat cutters. This belt is formed of wooden slats P connected at their ends to two endless chains M M passing around pairs of sprocket wheels N N on two parallel shafts'fl U journaled in bearings in a frame 8. @ne of the shafts G is provided with a crank handle Q, see Fig. 2,-by which this endless belt carrier is advanced in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2 to cause the meat to projectfar enough beyond the car rier to allow the cutter blades to slice it off.

To hold the meat firmly on this carrier belt I provide a number of upright detachable rongs R which have at their lower ends a asic support narrow enough to pass between any two of the slats 1?. These bases when passed between the slats and turned a quarter around are made to engage the slats without other fastening and for that ourpose the base of each prong has its ends-slotted with a recess of a size to receive into them the adjacent edges of two slats as seen in Fig. 5. When these prongs are forced up tightly to and slightly pressed into the edges of the meat as seen in dotted lines in Fig. 3 the natural elasticity of the meat strains the upper ends of the prongs outwardly and causes their lower slotted bases to grip and hold to the slats with a clutch efiect without other fastening. This permits of quick adjustment and re moval and also makes it practicable to easily clean the carrier.

On one of the hanger bars of the swinging frame, see Fig. 2, l mount a laterally projecting arm T which at its end carries a socket and set screw, in which socket a steel or emery stick L is rigidly secured in such a position as to be above the rotary knife and at an acute angle to its peripheral edge, so that when the knife becomes dull all that will be necessary to sharpen it will be to tilt the cutter frame onits rocking axis b,Fig. 1 ,until the revolving knife is brought against the sharpening tool. This is so quickly and conveniently accomplished as to occupy scarcely any time and necessitates no disconnection of the parts and no, interruption of the work.

In Figs. 2 and8 l have shown fly wheels K on the shafts of the cutters to give greater a "T 1-"'\ 4 -w v T T c .l l ow 4. 01 M011, tto rotary an parallel 5.15

momentum but these may be dispensed with if desired.- l is also make many othe changes in the construction and arrangement without departing from my invention as set forth. in the claims and may use'eitlier mechanical power or electrical power for operating the cutters. i also consider it desirable to employ a resser bar to press down upon and hold the meat while being cut. Such a ress'er car is shown at X and consists of a andled lever iivotally mounted in a stationary standard Y rising from the meat carrier frame.

It will be noticed, by reference to Fig. 3, that the journal boxes which carry the shafts D" G are adiustably connected by slots and bolts to suhjacent frame, This is for the purpose of adjustirn the planes of the cutter O and saw l to perfect a linem ent with each other so as to make a clean cut and avoid mutilating the steaks.

I claim: i. ii meat cutting machinecomprising a swinging frame hung from a pivotal support 7 above and having an independently lower portion, two rotary and parallel shafts arranged on. opposite sides ot the tilting center of the lower portion and bearing respectively rotary knife and a rotary saw arranged in the same plane with each other and having an opposite movement about the tilting center.

2. A meat cutting machine comprising a swinging frame hung from a pivotal support above and having an independently tiltin" ar nged on opposite sides of the tilt cen of the lower portion and bearing respec cly a rotary 'nfe and a rotary saw arranged in the same plane with each other and having opposite movement about the tilting center, and means mounted on the tilting frame for adjusting the saw and cutter into perfect alinement of their planes.

A meat cutting machine comprising a swinging frame hung from pivotal support above and having an independently tilting lower portion, two rotary and parallel shafts arranged on opposite sides of the tilting center of the lower portion and bearing respectively a rotary knife and a rotary saw arranged in the same plane with each other and having an opposite movement about the tilting center, two pulleys rigidly fixed to the two shafts-in the same plane, a belt tightener arranged between the pulleys and in the plane of the same, an endless belt passing over the belt tightener and under the shaft pulleys and a driving pulley above for the shape of the piece of meat and arranged to traveling belt having parallel, spaced slats maintain the clutch connection by the ex- 10 arranged parallel to the cutter blade, and meat holding prongs each having a clutch pensive action of the meat against the upper seat at the lower end made narrower than the ends of the prongs. 5 spaces between the slats and having an un- EDWARD \V. RUSK.

limited frictional adjustment longitudinally Vitnesses: along the spaces between the slats to any de- Enw. W. BYRN, sired position corresponding to the size and. SOLON C. KEMON. 

